Ilya Ruderman

Autobiography of Ilya Ruderman

My interest in type design rose gradually. It began from my first negative experiences. At that time Alexander Tarbeev became a teacher at Moscow State University of Print and with his help my interests got some new type skills. My passion grew and I decided to go to the Netherlands to attend the Type & Media course at the Royal Academy of Art (Koninklijke Academie Van Beeldende Kunsten) in The Hague. The brilliant Dutch type design school and traditions, my first own type project, and the high level of type technology, all can impress even any apathetic person. After coming back to Moscow I had some new commercial trials. The sans serif for Men's Health Russia, the new type for Yes magazine, the serif typeface for Best Life magazine, the sans serif type family for Big city magazine, and many other types for myself and my graphic design clients.

But also after coming back from Hague I started giving lectures, first by myself and later together with Valery Golyzhenkov. All these experiences also changed my attitude towards type design and helped to make a basic theoretical background for my practical experiences. Now I have become a curator of the Type & Typography course at the British Higher School of Art and Design and a freelance graphic designer.

Despite this long-time affection for type, I still cannot figure out for myself is this some kind of disease or vocation.